About Joan of England, Queen of Sicily

Joan of England (October 1165 – 4 September 1199) was the seventh child of Henry II of England and his queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine.[1]

Joan was born at Château d'Angers in Anjou, and spent her youth at her mother's courts at Winchester and Poitiers. In 1176, William II of Sicily sent ambassadors to the English court to ask for Joan's hand in marriage. The betrothal was confirmed on 20 May and on 27 August Joan set sail for Sicily, escorted by John of Oxford, the bishop of Norwich and her uncle, Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. In Saint Gilles, her entourage was met by representatives of the Kingdom of Sicily: Alfano, Archbishop of Capua, and Richard Palmer, Bishop of Syracuse.

English Royalty. King of England from 1199 to 1216. John was the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and youngest brother of Richard "the Lionheart". He married twice with the first being a political move to a distant cousin Isabel of Gloucester; this was annulled. Then he married the 12 year-old Isabella of Angouleme, who gave him three daughters and two sons. He was an educated man who loved hunting and traveling. Since Henry II did not award him land as he did his older sons, John was given the name of "Lackland". The name proved to suit him as, during his reign, he lost most of the land England had aquired earlier. John's life was characterized by double-crossing tumultuous relationships. First he allied with his brother Richard to rebel against their father; later he allied with King Philip II of France to fight Richard. He then turned on Phillip, causing England to lose Normandy. And lastly, he battled with his oldest brother's son Arthur over the right to the throne, which he ultimately acceded to after Richard's death. Many English barons and clergy thought he had poor judgment, was wicked and could not be trusted. And he was even excommunicated from the Church by Pope Innocent III. Although he did make improvements in military, taxation, and in the justice system, his faults and mistakes overshadowed any achievements. While John was in France and for the first time in history, barons made a national protest against such bad government. On June 15, 1215, John sealed the "Magna Carta", the Great Charter, which restated the rights of the Church, the barons and all in the land. Within months, John broke all of these promises, causing the Church and the barons to summon aid from France. In the midst of the French invading England, John died of dysentery leaving his nine-year-old son to become Henry III. At this point, Isabella of Angouleme was sent back to France without her very young children. King John may also be remembered as the rival of Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw in English folklore. (bio by: Linda Davis)

After a hazardous voyage, Joan arrived safely, and on 13 February 1177, she married William II of Sicily and was crowned Queen of Sicily at Palermo Cathedral. They had one son, Bohemond, born in 1181 and who died in infancy.[2] Following William's death in 1189, she was kept a prisoner by the new king, Tancred of Sicily.

Third Crusade[edit]

Finally, her brother Richard I of England arrived in Italy in 1190, on the way to the Holy Land. He demanded her return, along with every penny of her dowry. When Tancred balked at these demands, Richard seized a monastery and the castle of La Bagnara. He decided to spend the winter in Italy and attacked and subdued the city of Messina, Sicily. Finally, Tancred agreed to the terms and sent Joan's dowry. In March 1191 Eleanor of Aquitaine arrived in Messina with Richard's bride, Berengaria of Navarre.

Eleanor returned to England, leaving Berengaria in Joan's care. Richard decided to postpone his wedding, put his sister and bride on a ship, and set sail. Two days later the fleet was hit by a fierce storm, destroying several ships and blowing Joan and Berengaria's ship off course. Richard landed safely in Crete, but they were stranded near Cyprus. The self-appointed despot of Cyprus, Isaac Comnenus was about to capture them when Richard's fleet suddenly appeared. The princesses were saved, but the despot made off with Richard's treasure. Richard pursued and captured Isaac, threw him into a dungeon, married Berengaria on 12 May 1191 at Limasol, Cyprus and then sent Joan and Berengaria on to Acre.

Joan was Richard's favourite sister, but he was not above using her as a bargaining chip in his political schemes. He even suggested marrying her to Saladin's brother, Al-Adil, and making them joint rulers of Jerusalem. This plan fell apart when Joan refused to marry a Muslim and Al-Adil refused to marry a Christian. King Philip II of France also expressed some interest in marrying her, but this scheme, too, failed (possibly on grounds of affinity, since Philip's father Louis VII had formerly been married to her mother).

Countess of Toulouse[edit]

A double seal of Joan's

Joan was married in October 1196, at Rouen, as his third wife, to Raymond VI of Toulouse, with Quercy and the Agenais as her dowry. She was the mother of his successor Raymond VII of Toulouse, and a daughter, Mary (or Wilhelmina) born in 1198, who married Berald of Elbine, Prince of Orange.[3]

Joan's Seal.

This new husband treated her none too gently, however, and Joan came to fear him and his knights. In 1199, while pregnant with a third child, Joan was left alone to face a rebellion in which the lords of Saint-Félix-de-Caraman were prominent. She laid siege to their castle at Les Cassès but was menaced by treachery. Escaping this threat, Joan travelled northwards, hoping for her brother's protection, but he had died 6 Apr 1199 at Château de Chalus-Chabrol.[4] She then fled to her mother Queen Eleanor's court at Rouen, where she was offered refuge and care.

Death and Burial[edit]

Joan asked to be admitted to Fontevrault Abbey, an unusual request for a married, pregnant woman, but this request was granted. She died in childbirth and was veiled a nun on her deathbed. Her son lived just long enough to be baptised (he was named Richard). Joan was thirty-three years old. She was buried at Fontevrault Abbey, and fifty years later her son Raymond VII would be interred next to her.

Joan's effigy was originally shown kneeling at the head of her father's tomb with her hands clasped and head bent in an attitude of devotion which was expressed on her face. Her son Raymond was buried beside her and his effigy knelt facing hers. Unfortunately both effigies were destroyed during the revolution.

Depictions in fiction[edit]

The Plantagenet romance novelist Molly Costain Haycraft wrote a fictionalized account of Joan's life, beginning with the death of her first husband, in the book My Lord Brother the Lionheart.